You know what makes me happy? This conversation from Facebook and the subsequent picture I have in my head because of it.

Anyone know where I can find a statue of Mary on a HORSE? Huh? I think I need one.
Well, come to think of it, I probably need two. My four-year-old is sure to claim one to play with. (You know, like she did with the Holy Family.)
If you’re reading this in a feed reader, I’ll spare you the necessary click-through and just show you how the window view at the top of my blog has changed, thanks to Dorian and her amazingness.

In case you have an interest in my latest obsessions, it has involved dirt, flowers, and mulch, transforming my front view to this:

That streak of motivation also led to this:


In other news, I just confirmed, this week, that I’ll be in Dallas at the end of August. For this:

and this:
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I’m a weeeeeeee bit excited, especially as I’m going to be stuck like glue to her:

(and a few other people too, but Julie and I have a special plan, mwahaha)
This week, my phone (which is not “smart,” and that’s part of the reason I love it so), has been spending a lot of time in rice:

It had an unfortunate meeting with some coffee and then, as I was watering my hanging baskets, I leaned over to water some of the planted stuff and forgot all about the Truth of Watering Hanging Baskets: They will drip on you if you are under them.
To this I say: I’m glad I have rice in the house!
And here’s something pretty I just wanted to share, and which the artist, Michelle Paine, gave me permission to share (it’s copyrighted):
She shares about her painting of this “transciption” of Fra Angelico’s original and the story behind it on her blog. She’s doing a whole series on the Annunciation and I’m moved by them.
It reminds me of how I used to love going to the Museum of Art in Toledo with my mother, and how she would stand beneath the panel of Monet’s Water Lilies and just gaze. I never understood that stopping and looking, that pausing to savor, that slowing down.
But maybe I do, just a bit, now.
Michelle Paine is doing some amazing work. Her figurative paintings on Mary just make my heart beat harder and tears well up in my eyes…and I have no ability to explain why.
Quick Takes can be found this week at Betty Beguiles. Please pray for Jen from Conversion Diary.






























Here at Snoring Scholar, you'll find marriage and motherhood, book talk and rambling remarks, observations and distractions, in the midst of life in rural Ohio on a farm, with kids, critters, and Catholic flair.











